First Battle of Area 51
United States |side2 = Aliens |commanders1 = *President Thomas Whitmore *General William Grey |commanders2 = *Unknown |forces1 =U.S. Armed Forces *US Air Force *US Marine Corps |forces2 = *1 City Destroyer *Numerous Alien attackers |casual1 Numerous US ground/air forces, and civilian casualties |casual2 = Heavy losses }} The First Battle of Area 51 was a major battle during the War of 1996. The battle was a significant turning point in humanity's war against the aliens in which their force fields were finally disabled, as American air forces led by President Thomas Whitmore successfully destroyed a City Destroyer over Area 51. The Battle After David Levinson's plan to infiltrate the Mothership and upload the shield-disabling computer virus underway, the Los Angeles City Destroyer shifted its course from San Diego to Area 51 likely due to the aliens having detected the facility's communications output. President Whitmore leads a group of Air Force and volunteered pilots in an aerial battle over the base. On the ground Constance Spano and Major Mitchell escorted refugees from the RV convoy into Area 51's underground research levels. The attack was almost called off when the virus doesn't seem to work and the City Destroyers' shields are still up. Determined not to give up, Whitmore fires another missile at the side of the City Destroyer--and this time, achieves a direct hit. Encouraged by this success, the pilots resume their attack, damaging the ship and taking out many of the aliens' smaller attackers that were deployed to do battle. But even without its force-field, the City Destroyer was large and heavily armored, and the pilots start exhausting their missiles against the Destroyer and its large complement of attackers, without causing serious damage to the Destroyer. The Destroyer finally moved into position over Area 51 and prepares to arm its primary weapon at the base. Aware that their only chance of victory was to destroy the Destroyer's weapon before it could fire, Whitmore fired his last missile at the priming weapon, only for it to impact harmlessly against the outer defenses. A second pilot attempted to move into position for another attack, but was shot down before he could. With the attack's complement of missiles exhausted and the battle seemingly lost, General William Grey advised the surviving pilots to disengage to save themselves; Whitmore desperately pleaded if anyone has any missiles left, to which another pilot, Russell Casse, arrives to inform the President that he does, possessing the last remaining missile. Whitmore and his wingmen escort Casse to the main weapon, shooting down any alien attacker that get in the way. But as Casse locked on to the Destroyer's weapon, the firing mechanism jams. Russell realizes he will have to sacrifice himself to save Area 51. After leaving a message for his children, he flies his jet directly into the end of the energy weapon as it is priming to fire. The resulting explosion blows up the City Destroyer from the inside out and causing it to crash away from Area 51. Aftermath Soon after the destruction of the Destroyer, General Grey instructs the officers in the communications center to "spread the word" on how to destroy the spaceships to the rest of the world. Human forces all over the world began a coordinated attack on the remaining Destroyers using the same method, which is exceedingly helped with the destruction of the mothership due to the efforts of Levinson and Captain Steven Hiller. Gallery July4 01.png July4 02.png July4_04.png July4 06.png July4 08.png July4_13.png July4 16.png July4 24.png July4 27.png July4_29.png July4_30.png July4_31.png July4_32.png July4 40.png July4 41.png July4 44.png July4 58.5.png July4 62.png July4 67.png July4 68.png July4 71.png July4 72.png July4 73.png July4 74.png July4 75.png July4 76.png July4 77.png July4 79.png July4 80.png July4 81.png July4 83.png July4 84.png July4 86.png Behind the Scenes *To show the hundreds of fighters and attackers engaged in combat over the destroyer, the visual effects team created complex behavioral programming - commonplace today but innovative in the mid-1990's - to control entire fleets of fighters, how they interact, flew and were destroyed. By changing a few parameters, the digital artists could tip the balance one way or another as to who was "winning". *The attack on the trailer park at Area 51 scene was achieved with the special effects crew setting off eighteen huge explosions on location in Utah while 25 stunt performers ran and dove between the erupting jeeps and trailers. In front of them, out of harm's way, 470 extras dashed from their mobile homes and stampeded towards the camera. *Subsequent shots of Connie and Major Mitchell herding the civilians into the elevator were shot on set with a bluescreen back at the Hughes facility in California. *To facilitate scenes of the battle underneath the destroyer, the model shop built a series of generic destroyed building miniatures that could be quickly arranged and shot against bluescreen and composited together with the approaching destroyer model. The sequence also uses a various set of visual effects techniques: classic miniatures are used for the background landscape and the alien destroyer, with several large-scale pyrotechnic explosions of fighter plane models added for realistic debris and interaction while digital techniques were used for the missile trails and alien attacker ships, along with the background (and sometimes foreground) aerial action. *The fiery destruction of the destroyer was made with the fires and explosions being composited onto footage of the destroyer model using scores of filmed pyro elements. Category:Independence Day Category:Events